The Hebrew language has used acronyms since the Talmudic period whereas in languages such as English, German and Russian one only sees them starting in the 20th century. I'm not aware, however, if acronyms are found in Arabic prior to the 20th century. Perhaps someone versed in Arabic could let me know.

Post by retrosorterThe Hebrew language has used acronyms since the Talmudic period whereas in languages such as English, German and Russian one only sees them starting in the 20th century. I'm not aware, however, if acronyms are found in Arabic prior to the 20th century. Perhaps someone versed in Arabic could let me know.

There were no true acronyms in Classical Arabic. Occassionallysome pious phrases were abrreviated and a madddah was placed overthe letters but more usually the phrase was written in smallercalligraphy, the words stacked one on top of the other. Someverbs were derived from pious phrases such as basmala(t) tosay "bismilla:hirraHma:niraHi:m" and Hamdala(t) to sayal-Hamdulilla:h .

There are few acronyms in Modern Standard Arabic, mostlyconfined to a few political organizatons.